YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Jose Arroyo recalls family dinners during the holidays where the conversation would ultimately turn to a topic to which all adults at the table could relate.
“At Christmas and Thanksgiving, after we were done talking about family, we talked about steel,” he says. “We talked about unions. We talked about contracts.”
Arroyo, today the United Steelworkers International staff representative for District 1 Subdistrict 1, says that as a third-generation steelworker, those discussions shared between himself, his father and grandfather helped establish a foundation for his career in both steel and organized labor. “When I was growing up, at least one of your family members came up in manufacturing or steel,” he says.
That tradition continues through the Arroyo family, as both of his sons are members of the steelworkers union. “My boys are fourth-generation steelworkers,” he says.
Yet such direct lineage is rare today, Arroyo acknowledges, as fewer families in the Mahoning Valley possess that multigenerational link to a single industry, especially steel. “We really don’t have that anymore,” he laments. Instead, some of those entering the industry are often very green – many of them without manufacturing backgrounds or family members who are able to share their experiences.
“We’re getting a lot of people that don’t have manufacturing experience, let alone the sort of experience at the dinner table,” he says. “Some of these kids walk into these shops, and let’s face it, it can be intimidating.”
It’s an issue that the USW is trying to address to build its ranks, as the union also contends with complexities in the economy such as inflation, healthcare costs and international trade – all factors that impact contract negotiations and the region’s manufacturing sector.
Building Membership
Arroyo reports that membership in the Steelworkers is on the increase, as the union has won impressive gains at the bargaining table, many from local manufacturers. “We’ve had some very large numbers, particularly in some contracts in this area,” he says.
A recent agreement forged with Hynes Industries, Austintown, for example, calls for a 15% raise the first year, followed by subsequent wage hikes of 10% and 5% annually, Arroyo says. “These are numbers never seen by the company or our members,” he says. “We’ve had a lot of success.”
There are several factors at play driving the labor market, Arroyo says. Rising prices fueled by tariffs and inflation affect union members and are often used as justification to bargain for higher wages.
Still, the U.S. economy is complex, Arroyo says, and some local companies are impacted differently than others. While higher fuel prices may have an adverse effect on most industries, those associated with the energy industry stand to benefit. “If you’re tied to the energy markets, you’re making a fortune right now,” he says. At the same time, tariffs targeting specific products and industries help domestic producers such as those in the pipe and tube sectors, but tariffs that single out imported products that are not manufactured in the U.S. could have serious consequences for local manufacturers.
Mark Murray, staff representative for the USW whose territory includes Cleveland and the Youngstown area, says one of the companies hit hard by these tariffs is Thomas Steel Strip, Warren, a subsidiary of Tata Steel. The company imports specialty steel that is not produced domestically and is used to manufacture casings for the alkaline and rechargeable battery market. “The tariffs are absolutely killing them because nobody makes their steel in the United States,” he says. That means Thomas Steel must source battery quality hotband steel from foreign sources that are subject to a 50% tariff, he says.
Murray has lobbied the U.S. government for an exclusion given the extraordinary circumstances but has not received a response from Washington. The pressures from tariffs have since forced the company to restructure its contract with the USW, he says. “They’ve reduced the workforce from about 170 to 150,” he says. “They’ve lost a lot of business because of the tariffs.”
Meanwhile, Murray says he’s engaged in bargaining sessions in Pittsburgh with Cleveland Cliffs Inc., where he represents 979 workers from its steelmaking plant in Cleveland and another 170 at its coke manufacturing facility in Warren. “We’ve been here for six weeks,” he says. “It’s going slow.”
The USW’s four-year contract with Cleveland Cliffs expires Sept. 1, he says, and there are still some main issues that the company is “holding strong on,” Murray says. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
The union has also moved to expand its membership through efforts to organize other industries and plants. One in particular, which Arroyo dubs part of “holy ground,” is the massive Kimberly-Clark paper products manufacturing plant now under construction on former steel mill property near Warren.
Arroyo says the site has a long history of Steelworker representation that he would like to see continue. “The Steelworkers have shown interest and they’re talking to people,” he says. “But at the end of the day, those workers will make the decision.”
In-Demand Workforce
Another driver in the economy that has overall helped bargaining for better wages is the stubbornly tight labor market, Arroyo adds.
He especially points to demand for the skilled trades and the record-high wages that these USW craftsmen now enjoy. “I would say in the last five years, the average crafts worker has gotten about a $10 an hour increase,” he says. “These are historical numbers.”
Many skilled tradesmen are earning $40 per hour, and that does not include overtime, healthcare or any other fringe benefits associated with their collective bargaining agreement, Arroyo says. Some USW signatory plants, for example, are fielding apprentice programs of their own in order to train workers in-house for skilled positions. “They’re saying, ‘let’s home-grow our craftspeople,’” he relates. “One of my sons is actually a couple of years into his electrician apprenticeship program.”
There are also additional training opportunities as the steel industry diversifies its customer base to serve other segments of the economy, Arroyo says. Programmable logic controller, or PLC, training, for example, is an emerging path within the steelworkers union, he adds. Moreover, opportunities for companies continue to avail themselves, especially those that produce components for artificial intelligence data systems, he adds.
Key to organized labor’s future is attracting new membership, Arroyo says. As such, the USW is active in high schools and busy drawing attention to good-paying, family sustaining jobs that are available through the Steelworkers union. “Some of these jobs within a couple of years bring in six figures with Cadillac healthcare,” Arroyo says. “We’re trying to tell people that you don’t have to rack up debt going to college, especially in these uncertain times. Sometimes you can go right around the corner and create a great career in manufacturing.”
Pictured at top: Jose Arroyo, United Steelworkers International staff representative for District 1 Subdistrict 1.
